Good grades for the new releases from the SteelDrivers and Chris Young.
“The River Knows”
The SteelDrivers
Written by Tom Douglas, Daniel Etheridge, and Tammy Rogers
JK: Though they’ve remained a great band that has released a slew of terrific albums since Chris Stapleton’s departure a lifetime ago, I have not done right by The SteelDrivers when it comes to giving them their proper due. So let’s start the course correction here with “The River Knows,” the latest single from their forthcoming record, Outrun, due late next month.
What always sets The SteelDrivers apart is the wallop of their arrangements: They’re a band that plays acoustic music but plays it hard in a way that draws as heavily from blues and rock as from Bluegrass. That’s the case on “The River Knows,” and it absolutely works in service of a song that doesn’t shy from the impacts of intimate partner violence. I love that the band even slides in a reference to the DARVO principle in describing this character’s pattern of abuse. It lends a degree of authority to the songwriting, recognizing a type of behavior that’s all too common but rarely acknowledged as such.
I also appreciate that the narrative here leans into the “missing person who nobody really missed” aspect of this particular story, rather than a straightforward revenge arc. That makes the single even more distinctive than it might’ve been if had gone the familiar Murder Show route. As is their wont, The SteelDrivers make a lot of smart, purposeful decisions on “The River Knows,” and they’re an outfit that remains as good as they’ve ever been. A
KJC: One oddly comforting benchmark of progress in the last couple of decades has been the transformation of the country murder ballad. Once the vehicle for punishing women for what they did or did not do, or even what they did or did not feel, it is now the method of choice for disposing of abusive husbands, partners, and fathers.
It’s cool to hear the modern country murder ballad presented in such an old time country framework, connecting the contemporary spin to its ancestry with an arrangement that would make the Stanley Brothers proud. The third verse feels a bit gratuitous to me, but overall, it’s a cool take on the “he had it comin’” conceit. B+
“Til the Last One Dies”
Chris Young
Written by Ben Hayslip, Seth Mosley, and Jordan Walker
Kevin John Coyne: I am genuinely surprised by how much I love this record.
It’s not really the lyrics that get me there, though I do appreciate the fresh spin on eternal love that these writers came up with. It’s just dumb enough to sound genuine, like this everyday guy had what he thought was a brilliant idea and his partner couldn’t help but find it endearing.
What delivers this record for me is Young’s vocal performance, which is just so heartfelt. He’s always been a solid singer but there’s something about this song that’s tapping into something deeper in him. It’s the best he’s ever sounded to my ears, and it’s enough to make this my favorite love ballad in a good while. A
Jonathan Keefe: For over a decade now, Young has cut one really good song per album, only to leave it as an album cut in favor of singles that are never anything more than po-faced trend-hopping. So it’s a pleasant surprise that he’s tagged something as relatively well-written as “‘Til the Last One Dies” as a proper single.
The narrative here requires perhaps more suspension of disbelief than I’m willing to offer, and I could see that someone might interpret it in uncharitably as a manipulative prank. It’s Young’s delivery– a testament to what a good singer he is and the artist he could’ve chosen to be post-Neon– that makes this scan as sincere.
CoJo has eclipsed him in this vein over the last several years– and with even better material than this, usually– but this should get Young another hit as he starts to transition to a legacy act with a disappointing legacy. B
I think the thing that has made the SteelDrivers so good no matter who they have had as their lead singer is how strong the instrumentation and harmonies remain. Their hard driving instruments is really the heart of their signature sound. Also, I hope Tammy Rogers never leaves the group!